Vulpes pallida

Overview

Animal Diversity Web describes a long, low fox with relatively short legs, a narrow muzzle and long rounded ears. Upperparts are pale sandy and the underside buff-white, with a dark eye ring and a black-tipped bushy tail.

The same account reports earth dens with extensive tunnels and chambers. Older sources list varied animal and plant foods, but those lists do not show dietary proportions in any particular area.

In Niger's Termit and Tin Toumma reserve, Burruss and colleagues (2017) analysed 398 scats. Arthropods, chiefly beetles, orthopterans and scorpions, occurred in 91.8%, and mammal remains, mainly Gerbillus, occurred in 5.6%. Bird, reptile and plant remains were rare, and seasonal variation was slight. Occurrence frequencies do not measure biomass or a species-wide diet.

Origins & earliest records

The Mammal Diversity Database records the original name Canis pallidus. It dates Cretzschmar's relevant atlas instalment to 1827, within a larger 1826–1831 work.

Evidence & interpretation

Institutional account, original diet-study abstract and taxonomic record.

Selected bibliography

Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.

1. 01

   Food habits of the pale fox (Vulpes pallida) in Niger

   Burruss, Matchano, Frey, Andersen and Sillero-Zubiri · 2017

   Selected bibliography; African Journal of Ecology 55:664–671.

Family, evolution & connections

Taxonomic classification

A hierarchy of classified groups, not a chain of direct ancestors.

Source note: MDD dates the basionym to 1827; NCBI displays 1826 for Canis pallidus while giving 1827 for Vulpes pallida. This profile follows MDD's publication attribution.

1. familyCanidae
2. subfamilyCaninae
3. tribeVulpini
4. genusVulpes

References

Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.

1. Institutional accountPale fox: ADW accountResearch access: 2026-10-07
2. Scientific article abstractBurruss et al.: Niger diet study (2017)Research access: 2026-10-07
3. Taxonomic databasePale fox: MDD recordResearch access: 2026-10-07
4. Indexed taxonomic recordPale fox: NCBI taxonomyResearch access: 2026-10-07

Image credits

A historical colour illustration of a pale fox walking across open ground.

Historical 1890 illustration of the pale fox by J. G. Keulemans.